Absent friends - cables

cables left a lasting impression on many Ulster messageboard viewers, and was around from the start, on the original Irish, Ulster, URSC and other forums, imparting his knowledge, and giving his thoughts on all manner of subjects.

cables was a regular poster and came to be seen as an expert on Irish Rugby history, in particular Ulster rugby, his objective being to get a full Ulster Rugby record back to WWII. His encyclopaedic knowledge came across every time he posted. However, this was a man who not only enjoyed being able to confound and stump us with his questions and answers on Ulster trivia, but he had a sharp and dry wit which many appreciated every time he posted.

cables was a founding member of not only this web site/ messageboard, but also of the URSC, where he was a committee member, worked as an advisor in drafting the URSC constitution and brought order, governance and detail to URSC meetings. As mentioned previously he was also a predominant poster on the Ulster and IRFU boards to name a couple.

cables spent his time, and life devoted to Ulster rugby, watching them week in week out, and stood amongst us on the prom, where many supporters would surely recognise him and his distinctive looks. cables kept particular note of the records of Ulster rugby, and over time built up a huge knowledge base of data -statistics on players, matches and competitions. His records were so accurate that journalists and UR used cables to check their own source.

cables was a self-taught computer expert. On this website, cables wrote many of our competition questions, provided match day statistics, player statistics, and league table positions which were more accurate than any official source I could have used. When the 1st Celtic League fantasy managers game was introduced, the Fantasy Magners League, the league was run by an excel spreadsheet which cables produced, the most complicated spreadsheet imaginable, which calculated scores and points for players based on entrants choices [on a spreadsheet] and produced an accurate table which was the bedrock of the league. And all before the use of database driven tables were used for similar fantasy Celtic League games. His investigative nature also spotted errors with our predictions league calculations which of course he immediately pointed out.

In all this time, cables not only found the time to enlighten us with his factual compositions, but he brought to account the statisticians of UR on more than one occasion. Who can forget when he helped Justin Fitzpatrick be rightfully recognised for his 50th cap for Ulster as he corrected ERC’s mistake (and Ulster rugby’s) on the number of Heineken Cup caps Justin had gained – he went from 49-51 in one game because, as cables pointed out, they had wrongly attributed one of his caps to Deccie Fitzpatrick. This was gratefully acknowledged by Justin who phoned cables to thank him when he found out and who had helped him.Another occasion, cables identified that Nigel Brady has 1 more cap than UR say, and again Nigel thanked him on the pitch at Ravenhill.

cables didn’t let things get him down. He had had previous heart problems, but still enjoyed a smoke and a drink, known for his love of the famous Grouse, and he wanted to enjoy what time he had left, even it was short, rather than be miserable and live for longer.

Not only was cables respected, but he showed respect – he may not agree with or share others’ beliefs, but he defended their right to adhere to them (UNLESS he detected any sign of hypocrisy, in which case he was more than capable of exposing it). cables was an ambassador for the way people should interact with each other on this and any forum. cables is going to be sadly missed, by me and many others on the terrace at Ravenhill, and on this site where he made friends through his writing, and we will always remember him fondly. Every time I post I will wonder, ''what would cables think?''.

We leave you all with a selection of questions posed by cables, some used, others not, on this website over the years. By clicking on the link below, you will be taken to a link to all of cables' posts where you can read the man at his best.

Who was the first Ulster player to achieve 100 Ulster caps?When did David Humphreys score a try and 4 conversions in a game against Ulster? Name ALL the brothers that have played for Ulster since 1995 Name the brothers who played for Ireland in the professional eraWho is the only Ulster player to score 3 tries in a single Heiny game?Which Ulsterman that captained Ireland scored most points against Italy while captain?